The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-03-19
In his Letters" Charles Kingsley

ana Lazarus tWnlcn was the eUdnClpd-
tiOn from the Tartarus theory as the
one instance in which our Lord prOfes
sedly opens the secrets of the next
world; that he there represents Dives
as still Abraham's child under no de-
spair, not cut off from Abraham s sym
pathy, and under direct moral train
ing of which you see the fruit. He is
gradually weaned from the selfish de-
sire of indulgence for himself to love
and care for his brethren, a divine step
forward in his life, which of itself
proves him not to be lost. The imp05-
sibility of Lazarus getting to him, or
vjce Uersd, expresses plainly the great
truth that each being is where he ought
to be; at that time, interchange of place,
Il. e., Of spiritual state) is impossible.
But it says nothing against Dives rising
out of bis torment. when he has learnt
the lesson of it, and going where he
ought to go.
Fire and worms whether physical or
spiritual, must in all logical fairness be
supposed to do what fire and worms do,
viz: destroy decayed and dead matter.
and set free its elements to enter into
new organisms; that as they are bene-
icent and purifying agents in this life,
they must be supposed such in the fu
ture life, and that the conception of
fire as an engine of torture. is an un-
natural use of that agent and not to be
attributed to God without blasphemy,
unless you suppose that the suffering
(like all which he infiicts) is intended
10 teach man something which he can
not learn elsewhere.
FINALLY, you may call upon them to
rejoice that there is fire Of God the
Father whose name is love, burning
forever unquenchably to destroy out of
every mans heart, and out of the hearts
of all nations, and off the physical and
moral world, all which offends and
makes lie. That into that fire the
Lord will surely cast ali shams, lies,
hypOcrisies, tyrannies, pedantries, false
doctrines, yea, and the men who love
them too well to give them up, that the
smoke of their bGsdniSmOS a. e.) the
torture which makes men confess the
truth, for that is the real meaning of
it, basGniSnl0s meaning the touchstOne
by which gold was tested-may ascend
perpetually for warning and beacon
to all nations, as the smoke of torment
dynasties is ascending up to heaven,
and has been since 1793.'
Dean E. II. Plumptre writes ("The
New Testament on the Life after
Death")
Even the parable in which the ter
rOrs Of the unseen world were set
forth iii the most appalling vividness,
represented the sufferer, (the Rich
Mani as having at last learned to care,
more than he had done in his lifetime,
for the welfare of others; of the father
fs1lss tillreeogaizing the srfs
ferer in hades as his SON." Luke xvi.
25 IS.
Chauncey Hare Townshend, of the
Episcopal church, gives this fine ser
mon in sonnet, in the same line:
Our sins from fire dreadful emblem make
OF punishm mt, and woes that never tire;-
And yet now friendly beautiful is fire
Truth dress'd in fable, tells us it did wake
Man from brute sleep, heavens bounty to par
take,
And arts and love, and rapture of the Tyre,
The cottage hearth, the tapor's friendly spire.
Have images TO soften hearts that ache
vjrtuous is fire. The stars give thoughts of
love,
And the sun ehaseth i'll desires away.
Fire cleanses too; by it We gold do prove
And precious silver hath its bright assay.
Why not then deem the Bibles fires mean
this
Evil all melted TO make way for bliss
In the ChriSti1n World Pulpit, London,
1885, is a sermon by Rev J. B. Heard,
A. M preached in st. Johns, Caterham,
August 8, on the text, Son. remember, f"
in the course of which occurs these
words
"There is, if must say what believe,
something remedial in punishment.
This is the missing link in jurispru-
dence, which Legislators are beginning
to grOpe for and feel after. Am | to be
told that man is, in this respect, in ad-
vance of God, or that human jurispru
dence is to be humanitarian, but the di-
vine solely vindictiye? + Ii is this
theology which has taken all heart out
of morality, and made 50 many skeptics
to the gospel of love. We have to
go back to the truth is it is in Jesus,
aud to his teaching in regard to retri
button, which may be gathered from
this parableO he R'ch Man and Laz lrus1
If God be the Father of spirits. sure
ly in the world of spirits, we may
look for his presence, Christening. puri-
flying and discip,ining those who have
escaped that discipline here. This is
this missing truth OF theology, the lost
pleiad of the heavenly world of spirits,
which has only lately been recovered and
brought to light. These two truths
then, need to be enforced side By side.
the keynote of which is contained in
the two expressions. Son, remember.
The term remember carries with it
the thought Of retributiOn. exact and
unerring. The other phrase son,
carries with it depth unsuspected bv
those who only read the parable on the
surface. Ii suggests to US that Dives
is still child of Abraham, still mem
Der Of the covenant which cannot be
broken, and that in his case, as in that
Ot Israel as a whole, though God visits
his ottenses with a rod and his sin with
scourging, yet his covenant he will not
change, nor alter the thing which has
gone Out of his mouth. We may then
describe the two elements of future
punishment as Tetributive and reme-
dial
UniYersalists have always claimed
that if this story is to be literally inter
preted, it affords no support to unend-
ing woe; and it is encouraging to see